Gary, former Chairman of NextNav, spent over 45 years in the telecom industry and is noted for the founding or early stage development of a number of innovative telecom companies, including XM Satellite Radio, SkyTerra, TerreStar Networks, Telecom*USA and MCImetro.  He served as the founding CEO and then Executive Chairman of XM Satellite Radio from 1997 through its merger with Sirius in July 2008, and continued as Chairman of the combined Sirius XM Radio until 2010. He holds a Bachelors in Electrical and Computer Science from Clemson University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina. He has two sons, Gary “Mike” Michael Parsons Jr. and Kenneth James Parsons. A fun fact about Mr. Parsons is that he was inducted into the US Space Foundation’s Space Technology Hall of Fame in 2002.